Little Yellow bugs

[chend2]

Hi,

My cali tort is covered with little golden yellow bugs. They are very small. Maybe 1/10th the size of a flea. I wouldn't have noticed them except they are bright yellow. What are they?

 

[dj tryrd]

that narrows it down to a hundred things.

do they move? or are they stationary?

do they have legs?

if so how many?

if 6 it is an insect (which is rare for the marine environment but not totaly unheard of)

if 7 it is an amphipod (weird color though)

if 8 it is an arachnid (sea spider)

all of those are realy unlikly given the size, i didn't even bother listing crabs or shrimp.

it is probably either very small flatworms, or their eggs. (eggs do not move)

 

[returnofsid]

Sounds suspiciously like Red Bug, which are actually a golden yellow color with a red dot. Here's some info, along with pics.....
http://www.melevsreef.com/redbugs.html

 

[chend2]

Ding ding, Mike got it. Now I have to treat the suckers. I guess the size and color singles it down to one thing. LOL

 

[chend2]

Why the crud do we call them red bugs if they are not even red?

 

[returnofsid]

LOL Good question. If you are only seeing them on a particular coral, I'd suggest starting off by just treating that coral and see how it goes. May not have to treat entire tank. There's also been some useful information here on RF lately about using Melefix as a treatment.

 

[chend2]

Will do, thanks Mike. It doesn't seem to be bothering the coral at all. I thought they were part of the cali until i saw one move!

 

[roscoe]

Sounds like RB to me. They can look gold in color.